Chapter 7: Today Wasn't That Bad

5:18pm: 3 hours and 42 minutes Before Closing:

John and Fin were in the alleyway behind the store. Fin meant what he said earlier about celebrating if the Mets won and they were now smoking blunts. They liked to get high, simple as that; Fin had a live and let live attitude and John tried it once and like getting high with his friend. They would sit on packing crates smoking and laughing for hours on days they didn't work. Elliot and Olivia didn't mind it that much, while they didn't smoke and chose not to tell Cragen about their friends' drug use they didn't ostracize them for it. Meanwhile, back in the store the other duo was sitting behind the counter, Olivia was reading a magazine and Elliot was fiddling with the radio Fin found earlier.

"Anything special you want to listen to?" Elliot asked.

Olivia looked up from her magazine. "Not really, just listen to whatever you want."

"'Kay," he just kept switching through channels and left it on some generic pop station.

He looked at her but she didn't notice. He was about to say something when she turned and looked out the store window.

"Liv…"

"Hold that thought El," she said. She got out of her seat and took a closer look out the window. "I gotta go real quick."

"What? How come?" he asked.

"I drove here this morning and parked like 4 blocks away." She grabbed her car keys out of her backpack. "A spot just freed up outside, I want to park closer. I'll be back in like 10 minutes." She ran out of the store.

He sighed when she left. "Dammit," he sat there and looked out the window waiting for her to come back.

5:30pm: 3 hours and 30 minutes Before Closing:

Elliot was still sitting there waiting for Olivia to come back and only serviced 2 customers that came in. Suddenly he heard footsteps and someone walked into the store; he looked and only realized it was Fin.

"Yo, man we about to leave." He said. "Close up shop will ya?"

"You're not working today." Elliot said in a nonchalant tone. He grabbed Fin's jersey and tossed it to his friend.

Fin saw the look on his face. "What's got your tampon in a bunch?"

"Nothing," he huffed out.

"I don't not need to be high to know that you're upset." Fin grinned. "Where's Liv? I know she can turn that frown right side up."

"She went to go move her car."

"So? She coming back."

"I know but I've been thinking,"

"Oh no Stabler been thinking." Fin teased.

"I'm being serious!"

"Alright, don't chop my head off." He put his hands up defensively. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm having second thoughts," Elliot hesitated for a second. "On asking Olivia out."

"Why?" Fin questioned. "You like her don't you? You the one who asked her out, you can't take that back. Be sure of your decisions."

"I know I can't take back asking her out, but what if I screw up?" he looked down at the counter. "What if she tells me no?"

"Pussy," Fin firmly stated.

"What did you say?!" Elliot got angry and shot him a glare.

"You heard me," Fin stood his ground. "Don't be a bitch! So what if she tells you no; even though SHE WON'T! Life goes on!" Although he was high Elliot knew his friend was still serious about what he said. "I'm going to play the Devil's right hand man…"

"Devil's advocate,"

"What?" Fin was confused.

"You mean you're going to play devil's advocate." Elliot corrected.

"Whatever!" Fin ignored him. "Let's say she says no, what's really going to happen?"

"…"Elliot didn't get a word out, Fin didn't let him.

"You and Liv will still be friends, you will still work together and I damn well know you two will still hang out." Fin took a deep breath. "Now let's say she says yes, you know what'll change?"

"What?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" Fin exclaimed. "The only difference will be that you two can hold hands, kiss and make all the googly eyes at each other all you want!"

"But…"

"But nothing!" Fin interrupted him again. "Take charge of your life! Make your own decisions and be happy."

They both stood silent for a while and stared each other down.

"I want to be happy," Elliot finally said.

"Exactly," Fin agreed. "And I know Liv wants to be happy too."

"We all want to be happy," Elliot stated.

"The first step to being happy is inside of ourselves or some shit." Fin defiantly had a way with words. "We all work a crappy job but is it really that bad? This whole day I've kept hearing you say 'I wasn't supposed to work today' but so what? You got to hang out with your friends, watch the game even though your team lost, play a little ball and you're getting paid." Fin listed on his fingers. "Can you really tell me that today was that bad?"

"No, it wasn't a bad day." Elliot told him. "I've had way worst."

"See," Fin said. "Smile and look on the bright side."

"What's the bright side?" Elliot wanted to hear Fin's answer.

"You get to close early." Fin smiled.

Elliot shed a small smile.

Fin thinks he was getting to his friend. "I'm done with my rant and I'm going to let you think about everything I've said." He put on his baseball jersey and then grabbed a Gatorade from the refrigerator.

Neither one of the guys noticed that someone had heard the whole conversation. Munch was standing in the doorway and just looked at them. "I heard everything and that was deep man."

Fin and Elliot chuckled. Fin put a hand on Elliot shoulder. "Think about what I said and don't worry 'bout Liv of course she'll say yes to a date. He then started to walk towards the door.

"Fin," he turned around. Elliot looked at him. "Thanks,"

"No problem,"

"But you still owe me for that Gatorade you just took." Elliot said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah put it on my tab." Fin said offhandedly. "C'mon Munch let's go!" he left the store to start his car.

Munch walked over to Elliot. "Ya know you can't pick your family but you can pick your friends and who you date. There's a lot of good looking women in New York but out of all of them you chose right."

Elliot just looked at him shocked that Munch said something that wasn't a snide comment and he thought about what he said.

Munch smiled at him before taking a Gatorade and leaving. "See you Monday."

Elliot was now in the store by himself just thinking about what his friends had said.

Author's Note: It's short but I wanted to have a semi-meaningful chapter and conversation between Elliot and Fin. The way their relationship was in the show I could see these two having a talk like this because sometimes they do have differences in ideals. Next chapter will be the FINAL CHAPTER as the day is almost over! Reviews are always appreciated and I hoped everybody liked the chapter.